The selling season was still a way off. He felt comfortable. He could do it. He would do it.
The Age
Monday January 4, 2010
This extract is part of the 2009-10 Summer Read, a project of the State Library of Victoria and Public Libraries Victoria Network. www.slv.vic.gov.au/goto/summer-read Sold by Brendan Gullifer Sleepers RRP: $24.95 THEY were written down. Of course they were written down. Dally had been doing it since he was 19 years old. Every New Year's Eve, he revised them for the coming year. Then he kept a copy in the drawer beside his bed and read them through every night before sleeping. There was a second copy, laminated and stuck to the mirror in the bathroom. He read it while he shaved. And he kept a copy in his diary: a single sheet summary in a clear plastic envelope. His goals. At the top were three words: two million dollars. That was the gross commission he planned to earn. He'd talked about it in sales presentations. He had made a point of mentioning it to the Prender agents on his first day. Doing this had made him accountable. If he failed, it would be public. It was only June. The spring selling season was still a way off. Things would pick up. He felt comfortable and relaxed. He could do it. He would do it.Other things on his list included upgrading his car and putting in a tennis court down at the beach house. He wanted to sell the Melbourne house as well, and buy something bigger. He'd written down his ambition of getting into property development, and now he had a relationship with Jack Marchetti and they were working together on the Convent Apartments.Writing down your goals gave them power. The very act of committing them to paper could produce a synchronicity that was surprising.But it was only a first step. You needed to break each goal down into action plans.Over the previous year, he'd invested in training for his personal assistants. He'd sent them off to real estate performance seminars costing thousands of dollars. He'd bought them new laptops with client contact software. (Olivia was firing on eight cylinders, working 60 hours a week, her pretty little figure planted at her desk until nine o'clock every night while she clocked up a hundred prospecting calls a day. But Alistair? He was a cruiser. He'd have to watch Alistair.)Every aspect of Dally's business - and his life - was broken down into clearly articulated, desired outcomes. Daily duties for him and his staff; financial goals broken down into monthly, half-yearly and annual periods; vision statements; five-year plans; affirmations; CDs of inspirational speeches and success secrets that he played in his car. Wealth and achievement were products of a man's ability to control himself.And there were other areas of focus. Dally had expanded his networking activities and was now a member of two school committees and the Lions Club. He coached a local boys' basketball team. He'd formed a networking group with other business people - a lawyer, an accountant, a financial planner, a builder and an architect. They met for breakfast once a fortnight and shared information about their clients. It had brought Dally eight listings so far this year.He made 75 prospecting phone calls most days. Personally. It was him on the end of the line, sitting at his desk until 8pm four nights a week. He followed a script that updated the recipient on recent sales in the area, the state of the market, then indirectly uncovered whether they had any plans to sell in the near future. Every call was logged, dated and classified so that the next time he called, he knew exactly the content of the conversation on the previous occasion.Of course, all this necessitated he be a master of time management. He planned out his week in 15-minute slots. He used a program on his computer. He then printed out a copy and kept it in the Real Estate Institute diary that every agent carried. Time management was key. Every person in the world was granted 24 hours every day. But winners didn't waste a minute. He wrote in his diary with a Montblanc Meisterstuck fountain pen that he'd picked up for $495 in a laneway shop off Little Collins Street.Every time he opened the diary, or used the pen, he was programming his mind for prosperity. Business meetings, prospecting times, callback sessions, training and development, self-education, market research and even meeting friends for coffee - all were logged. His wardrobe was colour-coded with suits and matching ties and shirts arranged into day-of-the-week combinations. He could shower and shave and dress in 12 minutes. He'd even scheduled one-on-one time with his wife. Although they were practically living separate lives, he needed to sustain the marriage. It was part of his game plan. Divorce was expensive and an utter f---ing waste of time. In October he would take her away for a week to the Palazzo Versace Hotel on the Gold Coast.
© 2010 The Age
